I'd just like to thank you for starting this thread, Laura. There are so many of us, even here on PC, who have no idea what "the other guys" are going through. So I think there should be many, many threads like this for many different kinds of diagnoses and mental situations. Not just for the education of PC members, but for those on the outside too.

Mental illness, for most of the outside world, still has a "fog of unknowing" covering it. And those of us with mental problems all too frequently just know our own little corner of "paradise." Personally, I don't think we can make enough progress with the outside world unless we work together to make "them" (supposedly normal people) understand what things look like from the inside of our diagnoses.

All the statements and affirmations by "authorities" to the effect that the mentally ill aren't dangerous and deserve everyone's support are worthless unless the "normal" are presented with some dramatically realistic portrayals and descriptions of the "insides" of mental illness. In other words, no more "Snake Pits" or "Cuckoo's Nests," thank you very much.

Your thread is appreciated. Take care.